The Smiley Smile Message Board

The 1993 box set left off "Summer In Paradise" - nothing at all from the album - and I don't recall Mike commenting on SIP at all in interviews I have read (except for the immediate aftermath of the album's release and his comments about Al's "attitude problem").

Has Mike ever commented on SIP? Does he regard it as a good piece of work? Did all the Beach Boys agree unanimously to leave SIP tracks off of the 1993 box set? The SIP album is a singular curiosity in the Beach Boys canon, as it is the first and only time Mike was able to fully impose his image of the group onto an album. MIU doesn't count, as there was still plenty of influence from the other band members.

Did they expect SIP to take off as Kokomo did? Were they disappointed when it didn't sell?

Just a sidenote, 1992,93,94 had to be a tumultuous time in the music industry as Grunge dominated, and rap and rnb grew in popularity.

Given that no major label would release it, I can't imagine they expected it to do as well.

But -- given the fact that Mike and Terry reworked and re-recorded much of the album for Europe, it's clear they thought it was worth salvaging in some way, though.

I honestly don't know what Mike was thinking. He was still in full Hawaiian shirt rapping mode, unaware that a new generation of dope smoking, acid dropping teenagers were discovering Pet Sounds and SMiLE.

I was there in '89. Seventeen and stoned amongst a sea of surf shirts. "Mike", I cried, "Embrace your past"

Yeah, but I guess Mike - who is more thinking bout fads (which of course leads to nostalgia) - was sure the formlua of Kokomo would get it once more.

I concur--Summer In Paradise was basically Kokomo: The Album. 

But I'm so glad I own it. Unique packaging, cool artwork, poster, and all. The album gets played in my home. (selected cuts)

I like that album. I don't agree with the philosophy behind it but I can dig some of that stuff. And yes, the artwork is fantastic. The best artwork ever on a Beach Boys record

I have both CD versions, but I just wished I had the LP - darn koreans, they get all the exclusives  ;D

But he really did embrace his past when he refashioned the intro to BTTYS  "...wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..." ;)

I don`t know about Mike but Bruce has commented on it a bit.

He has said that the distributors offered them a stack of money to get it out quickly so they had to rush the production and Terry Melcher consequently hated it. 

Interesting. The album actually was far ahead of its time - it has a very 2010's sound to it: plasticky, high-end heavy, and slick beyond belief. Perhaps it could actually be a hit in the pop culture cesspool of 2012, with its quintessentially digital production (first album ever recorded in Sound Tools ((Pro Tools progenitor)) if I recall correctly).

How is the European mix? They spent more time on it? Imagine they played tracks from SIP on the current tour...

I recall an interview where Mike said SIP was going to be the BB's equivalent of Rattle and Hum...

But grunge, rap and R&B are AMAZING

I personally think the artwork is horrendous.  In fact, I think it's their worst album artwork. By far.

Bruce also said that Hot Fun was recorded in a wrong key. I.e. too low.

Back in '99 I asked Mike to sign my SIP copy.  He looked at it, probably hadn't seen it in years, and he said "Yeah this was a very good cover". To which I accidentally replied "But only the cover".
He looked at me, continued signing, gave the cd back and left without saying a word.

Rude.

Haha, an unfortunate slip of the tongue.....

LMAO. Classic.

The European mix only changed 5 songs I think I`m right in saying. One of the biggest differences I guess is that Al was more involved vocally but Carl didn`t participate as far as I know. The remake of Island Fever features Terry Melcher on co-lead instead of Carl much to its detriment.

Unfortunately the European mix didn`t fix the drum heavy production.

 :lol

That's hilarious Hypehat! :lol

Accident or not, that took some balls STE!  The mental image is cracking me up.

Interestingly enough, this album appears to have been erased from the Beach Boys' canon.  In the tour program, this album is completely omitted. 

The cover is cool especially the LP but as AGD once wrote "shame about the music".

Well, R&B was amazing in the 60s and early 70s at least.

I want to say it was omitted from the BB discography on Brian's site (or maybe the BB site) as well. I thought it was peculiar, but not heartbreaking in the least way.

50's too.

Is it the ONLY album that's omitted? I've always wondered why on the inner sleeves of The Very Best of The Beach Boys, where all their available albums are shown in a row along the bottom of the pages - why is Smiley Smile/Wild Honey not shown? Or at least it ain't on the version i've got (or on the one my cousin owns, coz i checked)

Yeah it really slipped, but looking back now it was kinda funny :)

I don't know exactly what happened during those years of 91-94 but I know that Z100 the biggest top 40 station in the county flipped to a rock format, some bands got their video on MTV and could sell millions of album without any radio airplay.

What do you do for a living?

Whatever I do it's just fine if some people don't like the result of my work.  I'm a big boy and I can take feedback and I'm sure so can Mike.

I've only recently gotten the courage to look up Summer in Paradise tracks on YouTube. I have to say I was very, very pleasantly surprised (considering my rock bottom expectations). Yes, Summer of Love is an absolute train wreck (although I find myself replaying it over and over....), and while only about half of the SIP tracks appear to be available on youtube, the ones that I've found other than Summer of Love range from passable to excellent. In the latter category I'd put Lahaina Aloha and Strange Things Happen, both of which are just as good as anything on Still Crusin and blow away most (not all) of the tracks on Beach Boys 85.  I hope they rerelease this as part of the 50th Anniversary, but won't hold my breath. Bottom line is that there are some GREAT songs on SIP that should be given their due.

Lahaina Aloha is the only song I listen to off of that album. I really like Carl's part but overall the song reminds me of something a modern Jimmy Buffett would do.

Same here. I find it to be a very chill album. The verses in "Still Surfin" seem to go on forever, and "Summer Of Love" is... well.. "Summer Of Love". Other than that I really dig the tropical feel of the album. Must've fit the era perfectly.

Well, this thing called Music evolved, see.....

and he's never been the same since..

Mike gave an interview in Goldmine magazine promoting SIP, talking it up as the album that sounded like a proper album because it didn't have too many cooks in the kitchen. Sounded like he thought it was gonna be a commercial blockbuster. Unlike many fans, I enjoyed Kokomo and the new songs on Still Cruisin'; Mike's mistake was thinking "that song was a worldwide #1, so what the BB's need is an album full of Kokomo retreads". I always hoped that the group would take the momentum from a #1 record and create an album as artistically rewarding as BW88. You've got the attention of the whole world,potentially millions of new fans; instead, they put out a cobbled together, half hearted comp, then wait another 4 years to put out a truly new album, a glorfied Mike Love solo album. It's similar to how they blew their momentum in the 70's - the success of Endless Summer/Spirit of America puts them at the top of the charts again, anything they put out is gonna sell, so instead of another Holland/Surf's Up, we get a barely interested Brian being rushed into the studio to crank out 15 Big Ones...and they never have another top 10 album.

I know.   I ruined him for everybody.

I was just reading the Goldmine interview. Love comes off as a bit of a jerk, with his harping on "commerciality" again and again. However, Brian also comes off as a jerk, denying songwriting credits to Dr. Love.

Mike is a man of many contradictions - something that he puts down to being a pisces, but it really is just being human.

Does anyone else remember the interview appearance on ABC's In Concert series where Mike mentioned he wanted the next Beach Boys album to be entitled Masterpiece?

Mike's ego got insanely huge during the kokomo-SIP era.

If he was on In Concert, I probably have it buried on an unlabeled VHS somewhere (lost to the ages now), I used to tape that show. The episode that stands out was Keith Richards and Hunter S. Thompson pranking each other and blowing stuff up.  ;D That, and Bowie's Tin Machine playing their discordant rock on an airstrip somewhere.

yeah I heard he had a mental breakdown went into his room for 2 years and came out with a long beard..

Close your eyes and lean back now, listen to this; it still is insanely huge. :p

Oldsurferdude, do you dislike Mike or something? I never knew! I am sensing less-than-good vibrations.

Seriously though, I also love how Mike Love credits his title change of "Endless Summer" with its resounding success. To be fair, the title is a lot better than a regular "greatest hits" style thing, but to say the title made all the difference is a pretty big leap in Logic.

I seem to recall that in one of the concerts that I've heard (Mid 90's I think) before going into one of the SiP tracks, Mike comments on the poor sales of the album and mentions that the CDs are on sale at the venue

Hanging out with Hunter S. Thompson was always crazy. ;D

Which is one of the worst U2 albums so I don't really know where he was going with that.

It's also absent from the discography on Brian's site though that makes sense as Brian had zero involvement with it.
http://brianwilson.com/beach-boys-discography/

I remember that, still have the tape, and I had to honestly wonder at the time if there would be another BB's album after the resounding commercial and critical disaster that was SIP. Now if Mr. Love had actually followed through on that plan/threat, of doing a song cycle of more substance than SIP, it might have been worth hearing. instead, we got Stars and Stripes....to my ears, the most dispensable album in the entire BB's canon.

stop the presses :P

You know, at the time when SIP came out it felt like Kokomo had been a hit 15 years before. The album came too late. There was no momentum left by then. The 30th Anniversary passed and nothing happened, and then this came out. There was no expectation for it. Perhaps if had come in 1990 it would have been different.

I must say, as cheesy as SIP often is, I think it would also work as a commercial record in 2012. It has the Pro Tools sound, super catchy songs, and a lot of shiny musical "jingling keys" to keep the attention of the listener. Reminds me of a contemporary Katy Perry record or similar. Mike was way ahead of his time with SIP.

Also, "Island Fever" has a beautiful hook, in spite of the inane lyrics.

I never knew until today that Terry Melcher was mad as hell when the album came out. I was surprised. Apparently he was upset that the project was rushed to completion.

A short blurb about SIP, including the cover artwork, does appear in the Beach Boys 50 Anniversary 'ZinePak released today (WalMart only), in an Anthology Section depicting all the non-greatest-hits BB albums.

I agree.  Terrible.

Summer in Paradise is one of my fav. beach boys songs and I love most of the others on that album. Very relaxing fun music.

Yeah, SIP was music for Mike to cool out by...... 8)

It's cool that there are people like you out there who dig SIP. It is widely considered to not be very good, but as I said above, there are some beautiful melodies interspersed throughout, and Carl is in fine voice.

I wonder what Mike's reaction would be if you told him you loved SIP... probably very happy.

...still surprising that that wrecked thing SIP managed to sell that well.

That’s always said of people who are in reality 300 years behind. Didn’t you know?

I doubt this exists, but is there a "special edition" of SIP that includes the entire batch of recordings, both US and Euro?

Ha! I didn't know, but I know now. Let's say Melcher was ahead of his time with the production (meaning 300 years behind his time).

That MAY have made a difference. Wouldn't have made it any better as an album, but it definately was closer to the sound of that year - Wilson Phillips being one related example. The only place for SIP in 1992 was AC radio. I did hear Hot Fun in the Summertime on the local AC station once that summer, but nothing on that album got anywhere near the airplay Still Cruisin' had, which I believe was a top 5 AC track in '89.

Deliriously happy - and he'd probably offer to sell you the remaining 142,800 copies he has sitting in his garage

Technically he has - Liner Notes!

(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/bionicool123/other/SIP/liner_notes.jpg)

when he explains it so sincerely like that it's hard to find fault in his actions.

A real load from the lovester. ::)

The one thing I kick myself now for not getting.

A large promo poster of Summer In Paradise signed by The Beach Boys. The poster depicted the album cover and it was hanging on the wall behind the cash register at Tower records. They wanted $100.00 for it. At the time I figured that the CD sucked and didn't want to 'invest' anymore into it. I came back a week later and the poster was gone. Made me want the damn thing even more. Dunno how many they signed or if it was just a one-off.

I won one of them in a contest run by Tower Records back in 1992.  First prize was dinner at the Beach Boys Cafe in Hermosa Beach (remember that?) with the group.  Second prize was the signed SIP poster.  I won one of the 2d prizes.  It came in a real nice frame and everything. Too bad it was only signed by MIke, AL and Bruce, though.  Still hangs in my spare room at home.

There is an address on the back of the poster with the CD for full size copies of the cover 'suitable for framing'. Obviously they aren't signed, but did anyone ever send off? and does it still work?

Now I want one even more!  :-D

Whenever I listen to SIP, it really does bring that year back to me in a vivid way. Thinking back to 1992, SIP seems pretty damn on it. We had a charismatic new president, the economy was booming and people were pretty much all-around happy, and the So Cal Beach lifestyle the Beach Boys created was fully alive and thriving (I lived in Manhattan Beach at the time)! We had recently "won" the first Gulf "war" and there was a healthy patriotic vibe in the air.... I had recently discovered Sunflower and was listening to it obsessively (via the old Warner's CD: which I still love: then a vinyl copy I found for $1) so, of course, I was disappointed by the lyrical content and lack of anything adventurous, but it still sounded and felt like the damn Beach Boys, so it went down easily enough and, like I said, it brings back it's time and place in a very vivid and comforting way..... I could never hate that album.

Whatever the faults of SIP, I would have taken one of those every two years rather than the lack of new recorded output we got. Of course, the failure of SIP may be one of the causes for the scant number of new releases since then.

 :lol "totally for the young"

Yeah Mike, Summer of Love REALLY makes those young kids go crazy.

If you haven't heard Lahaina Aloha, you're in for a real treat.  At the time, I couldn't understand how they could come up with a song that sounded so good, and yet the rest of the album was a dud.

Okay, i officially can't deny it anymore:


I REALLY like Lahaina Aloha, it really is my big guilty pleasure ATM.

Over the years i've came to really understood what SIP is all about in the end, like Mike Love said it's all about doing the perfect summer soundtrack (of the 90's at least, cause their early hits were perfect summer hits) nothing more nothing less, it has a production that really aged, they used protools, etc.. but is it that BAD for what it is? sure it has terrible moments such as Summer In Paradise, but so does Still Cruisin', so what i mean is that, i can't even tell which one is worse!


What bothers me is the formula they used over almost every songs, they were like "oh snap, Kokomo got number one! we need to do bunch of songs like these!"
not only it was already that scenario for Still Cruisin', but they tried again on SIP.. it just gets old, the percussion intro, the use of accordion everywhere and all..
plus the guitar solos, i mean i kinda like that vibe, but doesn't seem to fit the Beach Boys music that much..

But Lahaina Aloha, man what a catchy tune.. it has the formula i hate of the album (which i already explained) plus the production (god that snare drum noise) but the verses are cool, and the chorus! Carl Wilson! he makes it sound just so beautiful, and the melody really stucks in your head you know.

I wish I could have been walking in the sand in the summer of '91 and came across  Mike and Terry and could have told them, " This is the worst idea ever, just don't...ever...."

When this tour is over, Mike and Bruce should continue on by performing SIP in it's entirety a la Brian and Pet Sounds.    :lol

And crash and burn after the win with the album and tour. Sure, right.

It would have been awesome had Carl been there, just to have seen his reaction. Something tells me that he probably would have been trying hard not to laugh.  ;D

Here's one on Ebay with a Carl sig too...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beach-Boys-signed-Summer-in-Paradise-poster-incl-Carl-Wilson-/160836413690?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257298e8fa

This has to be one of the worst albums ever. Horrible.

Are you talking about the US version of that song? I only ever heard the European version, and that's pretty catchy and well sounding, actually my favorite of that album. The European liner notes seemingly feature the lyrics of the US version, as they are way different than what they sing on the record, and the printed lyrics do pretty much suck.

I thought that Lahaina Aloha was one of the tracks that stayed the same for the British release.

The title track is bolded.

oh, I thought that was the name of the album being bolded, and wasn't quite sure why.

I'll agree that the title track sounds a lot better on the British version, especially due to the Roger McGuinn verse.

SIP in the only BB album I never even considered purchasing. I mean, their were used copies at 2nd Hand Tunes in Evanston Ill for, like, a buck during the entire 90's and I still never picked it up. The album cover is probably the all time Lamest BB cover, amongst a sea of crappy BB album covers...
20 years later and I can now listen to a few tracks on you tube, but it still really really blows. Possibly the crappiest sounding recording ever. EVER.

Sorry i meant Summer Of Love, i get confused when i'm tired, heh.

Does the European version have the verse that Bruce sings?  I've heard the US version on Youtube, and Bruce sings the last verse, which I really like.  Youtube also has the version with Roger McGuinn on 12-string and lead vocals on the 2nd verse.  That version sounds excellent (partially because the McGuinn rules), but at least on Youtube, it lacks Bruce's verse.  If I could get a version with McGuinn, but also with Bruce's verse, I'd call it a genuinely good song. 

People need to get over bashing this album. It was Mike and Terry Melcher trying to make something out of a shite situation. Carl, and Brian certainly weren't helping much or at all and it was 1992 for God's sake. Very few classic artists of the 60's or 70's even had their heads above water. Neil Young had Harvest Moon, which was a revelation, but he'd only recently recovered from his own decade + of Summer In Paradises. At least Mike believed in the album and it really isn't even that bad. Most stuff from that awful year has aged even worse that SIP and at least it still has some cookin' tracks that sound like the Beach Boys. So, let's please move on.

I, for one, like the European version of the title track. I wouldn't mind if they did that in concert.

I remember seeing them do SIP on ABC's In Concert during the summer of 1993, and the version they did had Bruce singing the last verse - but no McGuinn. Bought the cassette, and was disappointed it was Mike all the way through. I really don't hate the song - Mike was trying to move the group into more serious subject matter. Okay, he's no Dylan when it comes to lyrics, but I admire the attempt at addressing things like the environment. I just don't like the sound - the "let's recycle the Kokomo formula to death" syndrome. There are worse albums, but in the BB's catalog, this is rock bottom. It actually makes MIU sound good!

I ddn't know the group did an In Concert special.

yes, they did

It's interesting that Mike did keep the title track in the setlist until 1998 or 1999. I remember first hearing the album after hearing the horrendous reviews, and it wasn't *quite* as bad as I thought it would be. A couple of tracks are catchy, specifically "Lahaina Aloha" and "Strange Things Happen." Okay, that may actually be kind of all.

Terrible production, though. Bad drum samples, digital recording that may have been ahead of its time in pioneering the use of ProTools, but actually sounds more harsh and grating and dated than the 80's digital recording heard on the '85 album.

Yes sir!! And if anyone has any doubt about where Myke Luhv's head is, was , listen to SIP in it's entirety if you can handle it, and then wonder if DOTO wouldn't fit perfectly with the rest of the garbage on SIPEEEEE. :o

It's all about expectations really isn't it?  SIP was about as much (or as little) as anyone might realistically have expected from Carl, Mike, Al and Bruce at that particular point in their career. 

On the other hand, a not insignificant proportion of Brian's post-1988 output has been considerably below my personal expectations.  For example, to my ears there are at least as many absolute clunkers on GIOMH as there are on SIP.

About half the tracks on it are tripe, the others range from acceptable to pretty good. Yes it's fun to bash but let's face it - there are much worse albums out there.

I truly like "One Summer Night."

"Island Fever" would be okay if it weren't for the lyrics. I think Mike wasn't really trying.

It's nice. I wonder though why Bruce felt the need to re-write another person's song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT4LJxBBaF0




Allegedly he was trying for the new album and came up with "Spring vacation" and "Beaches in mind", so I don't know if he really wasn't for SIP/Island fever

Maybe he's lost it. In my opinion, Mike was a hell of a lyricist back in the day: the "alliterative Chuck Berry thing" he talks about.

Yeah.. i mean, even when you look at the lyrics he comes up with these days, as much as people want to defend Mike Love and what he stands for, Spring Vacation isn't the best thing he ever did.

I'll admit that I don't know the true stories surrounding the recording of Summer In Paradise, like who was invited, who was asked to leave, who stayed away, etc. But, I don't lay all the blame at Mike's feet.

This WAS a Beach Boys' album and they - The Beach Boys - were under contract to record an album. Mike Love (with Terry Melcher) more than carried his load. IMO he contributed 5 good to very good songs: "Lahaina Aloha", "Strange Things Happen", "Still Surfin", "Island Fever", and the title track. I mean, how much more could you expect from the guy?

If only Brian could've been a Beach Boy and contributed some songs. Was he still getting checks every time the band performed live? I will always believe SIP had potential to be a fun, albeit lightweight, album. The real "light album". And, as far as production values go, I hear some SIP production on TWGMTR.

Well, that's very Bruce. He seems to have a lot of nostalgia for the '50s.

I don't know, i think 3 verses is a bit too much (when there's nothing else happening, i mean no solid chorus or bridge or instrumental part or twist change or whatever) and the fact that it's Bruce singing the last one feels out of place, like, coming out of nowhere, letting Mike Love sings the first two verses then for unknown reasons Bruce comes in.. kinda odd.

Anyway, all i'm saying about this album is that Lahaina Aloha is really catchy and i love Carl's voice on it.. don't care much for the rest, plus production really aged.

You think the title track is good? God help you.